Environmental risk caused by drug waste in the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, during the SARS-Cov19 pandemic.

The relationship between the distribution of medicines used in the Pandemic by SARS-COV-19 in the municipality of Rio de Janeiro and the estimated level of environmental risk caused by their residues was evaluated. The amount of medicines distributed by primary health care (PHC) units between 2019 and 2021 were collected. The risk quotient (RQ) corresponded to the ratio between the estimated predictive environmental concentration (PECest) obtained by the consumption and excretion of each drug and its non-effective predictive concentration (PNEC).

[Review of national and international legal and regulatory mechanisms on the management of drugs and the residues thereof].

This paper presents a descriptive review of laws and regulations on the management of drugs and the residues thereof adopted by countries in Europe, the Americas and Australia. This review integrates relevant points of official documents of regulatory agencies in these countries, as well as important scientific works. All countries surveyed carry out drug management concomitant with the management of the residues thereof, ranging from awareness programs on the rational use and the risks of drugs through to the collection and safe disposal of such residues.

Regulation of the synthetic estrogen 17α-ethinylestradiol in water bodies in Europe, the United States, and Brazil.

The synthetic estrogen 17α-ethinylestradiol, the principal component of oral contraceptives, has been identified as one of the main compounds accounting for adverse effects on the endocrine system in various species. This study aimed to analyze the state-of-the-art in legislation and guidelines for the control of this synthetic estrogen in water bodies in Europe and the United States and to draw a parallel with the Brazilian reality. Countries have generally attempted to expand the regulation and monitoring of certain emerging micropollutants not previously covered by legislation.